2 October 1854: The birth in Ballater
of Sir Patrick Geddes, the noted biologist and botanist who went on to become
a pioneer in the field of town planning.

2 October 1931: The death
of Sir Thomas Lipton, who succeeded in establishing a chain of grocery stores across Great Britain;
who gave his name to Lipton teas; and who repeatedly
(and unsuccessfully) challenged for yachting's America's Cup.

5 October 1922: The birth near Hamilton
of Jock Stein, a football manager best remembered as manager of Celtic and of the Scotland national team.

6 October 1918:H.M.S. Otranto
sinks in Machir Bay off north western Islay after a collision in fog with another troop ship, HMS Kashmir.
431 lives are lost: 80 members of the British crew and 351 US servicemen.

10 October 1797: The birth in Edinburgh
of Thomas Drummond, an engineer and the inventor of the Drummond Light who
worked for the Ordnance Survey of Ireland before becoming a senior administrator in Ireland.

10 October 1974: By the second General
Election of the year, Harold Wilson's Labour Party has accepted the need
for devolution. The Scottish Nationalists take 30% of the vote and 11
parliamentary seats.

10 October 1985: The death in London of Doris Reynolds, a
geologist who spent much of her career in Scotland.

Friday, 13 October 1307: King Philip IV
rounds up the Knights Templar in France as part of his campaign to gain control
of the Order's vast wealth. In 1312 he persuades Pope Clement V to dissolve the
Order, which in Scotland sees their assets, previously controlled from
Temple, transferred to the Knights
Hospitaller of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and administered from
Torphichen Preceptory.

26 October 1911: The birth on the island of
Raasay of Sorley MacLean. He would become one of the most important
Scottish poets of the 20th Century and is seen by many as the father
of the renaissance of the Gaelic language.

31 October 1745:Charles Edward Stuart
moves south from Edinburgh despite
views among his supporters that it would be better to retain Scotland and wait
for a promised French invasion of England.

31 October 1860: The death in London
of Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, who achieved fame as
one of the most daring and successful naval captains of the Napoleonic
Wars, and later led the navies of Chile, Brazil and Greece in independence
struggles.